Sha Sha's (Slow) KB FOTK Build for Short Troopers

[Sly11[Admin]]

We are all watching with excitement.

Great to see you back onto this project Sha Sha!

 

[shashachu[TK]]

One of the next parts I tackled were the ab boxes. Like others, I used a contour gauge to try to match the bumps on the front of the ab:

 

 

Since I knew I'd be painting the entire kit, I also used the ab and belt boxes as a small test to try out painting. So I sanded off all the gloss:

 

 

The primed and painted them:

 

 

Very far from perfect but ok:

 

 

 

Definitely needs improvement before I tackle the armor!

 

For the ab box attachment, I decided to go with nylon bolts and nuts. I drilled holes in the ab:

 

 

Then tried to use epoxy to glue the nuts in place. To be honest it was kind of a harrowing process. I had to reinforce the bolts with some milliput, and for one of them I messed it up so badly I ended up just gluing it to the ab.

 

 

I also thought that I could use Loctite to help keep the nuts on, but BIG MISTAKE. I don't know what's in it, but it caused some major cracks in the ab!

 

 

 

I ended up backing the cracks with a CA-glue soaked piece of cloth, and fortunately there's not too visible. Another vote for gluing the ab boxes on!

Edited July 27, 2025 by shashachu

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Looking great Sha Sha

[ukswrath[Staff]]

49 minutes ago, shashachu said:

I also thought that I could use Loctite to help the nuts on, but BIG MISTAKE. I don't know what's in it, but it caused some major cracks in the ab!

 

 

I ended up backing the cracks with a CA-glue soaked piece of cloth, and fortunately there's not too visible. Another vote for gluing the ab boxes on!

 

 

Most plastics have a negative reaction to Loctite thread locker products. It's made for metal.  Scrub it all off if possible. If not it will continue to effect the plastic. That said, E6000 works great on the plastic threads. Apply it on the studs nearest to the Ab armor.

 

Hope this helps

 

Keep up the great work

[shashachu[TK]]

3 hours ago, ukswrath said:

 

Most plastics have a negative reaction to Loctite thread locker products. It's made for metal.  Scrub it all off if possible. If not it will continue to effect the plastic. That said, E6000 works great on the plastic threads. Apply it on the studs nearest to the Ab armor.

 

Hope this helps

 

Keep up the great work

 

I did this a while back and washed it off, so hopefully no further reactions, but yes it was quite immediate and dramatic. Thanks for the tip about E6000.

[shashachu[TK]]

The next part I tackled was the belt. I'd been dreading it for some reason, but it was actually quite fun. I believe I used @JAFO's belt kit.

 

To start, for the backing of the two horizontal boxes, I printed this file. It turns out though that I had to modify them because the curve of my ab was more pronounced:

 

 

I did a quick mod in Tinkercad to fix it. You can see the difference here:

 

 

I didn't do an amazing job documenting the build, so I'll refer you all to @Ruthar's excellent build thread which I used as reference. Similar to other builders, my only recommendation is to take your time, and make sure you're sizing everything against the ab armor. The belt components have quite a bit of thickness, so it was easiest for me to just line them up and mark the measurements manually.

 

The punch I used to make holes in the rubber and neoprene:

 

 

 

The 3 layers held together with Chicago screws:

 

 

Fit around the ab armor:

 

 

 

You can see how much longer the outer layers are compared to the inner nylon:

 

 

I tried to glue the layers together with E6000 but it didn't stick, unfortunately. Not sure if it will be necessary ultimately.

 

 

Like @Ruthar I covered the belt clip with some extra rubber:

 

 

Planning out placement of the boxes and pouches:

 

 

I unfortunately cannot recall where I got the pouches from, but I believe it was a run on the forums. If I find it, I will update this post.

 

Moving along, the 3D printed box backers were nice because I could just zip-tie them on. I ran out of black filament so I just hit them with some black spray paint. I didn't bother doing any prep and finishing on them since they'll barely be visible.

 

 

You can see the back, including some snaps I'd added to hold the front of the belt up:

 

 

Here are the other belt boxes attached with elastic:

 

 

I may end up adding a snap to the back of the belt if I find it moves around, but for now this is as much assembly I can do prior to painting.

Edited July 27, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

The KB TD seemed like a huge pain to assemble, so I went ahead and printed this one from Jesse_M (who also makes the most accurate C3PO files, from what I understand.)

 

 

 

 

I cannot recall if I had to make any modifications to the files to fit the KB TD back plate, but here are some photos showing the fit:

 

 

Before gluing the halves together, I added nylon bolts for mounting:

 

 

 

 

I have very successfully used a garrison-mate's method of acetone-thinned Bondo spot filler (see his YouTube video) on other prints, so I gave it a go on the TD as well:

 

 

 

Primed

 

 

Still has a tiny seam, which I'll need to address:

 

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

One thing I did recently as well, was make the 'Finn cut' in the forearms. It was a little nerve-wracking to cut into the forearms, but I'm much happier with the fit. I also checked about 500 times I was cutting the correct side. :)

 

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by shashachu

[shashachu[TK]]

Some additional miscellaneous progress:

 

Cutting the bicep pill holes:

 

 

 

Printing the SE-44C:

 

 

Printing the chest greeblies, although I may try to get someone to print them in resin later:

 

 

Cutting some of the ab out under my armpit area:

 

 

Resizing the gaskets under the armpit area:

 

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

So as I alluded to a few posts back, I was happy about the chest and back sizing, but now quite unhappy about the helmet size. It somehow doesn't show as much in photos, but in person I felt like a FOTK Funko pop. I really really didn't want to have to print the helmet, but seeing how amazing @zediyeti looked made me finally bite the bullet. Like Zediyeti I sized my helmet to 92%, but I had to slice it into parts due to my smaller printer bed. Each part took 12-ish hours.

 

1) Top. I used a support blocker under the dome, but you can see how a bunch of supports are needed under the brow. Concerned about the finish, I decided to use PLA as the support interface, and it worked amazingly.

 

 

The black is PLA:

 

 

The brow surface:

 

 

2) Bottom rear. I was a little too aggressive with support blocking which caused some artifacts near the edges but nothing unfixable:

 

 

3) Bottom front:

 

 

And a size comparison with the Anovos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is certainly going to be a chore to finish the helmet, but I didn't see a better path forward. It's possible I could have been approved with the Anovos helmet but I know it would have just driven me up the wall every time I looked at it.

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Outstanding work scaling down your armor, just wow! 

[shashachu[TK]]

Most recently, I've worked on reshaping the calves. I am planning on just using Velcro to close them, but similar to my OTTK, I'd like them to stay closed without any Velcro to minimize the chance of them popping open during a troop. So I turned to my trusty heat gun to reshape them. 

 

Here's a photo midway through the process; the gap was even larger before:

 

 

And after:

 

 

The other calf after reshaping:

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Besides the spats, most of the rough assembly for the costume is actually done, so my next big milestone will be to do a whole body test suit-up. Some of the strapping can't easily be done prior to painting, so I am planning on using hot glue to add some temporary strapping, since hot glue can be easily removed with rubbing alcohol. In order to do my suit up, I think this will be my checklist:

 

[ ] Sew the elbow and shoulder gaskets together

[ ] Shoulder strapping

[ ] Ab strapping

[ ] Shoulder/bicep strapping

[ ] Thigh strapping

[ ] Temp butt strapping

[ ] Temp cod strapping

[ ] Temp helmet padding

[ ] Temp chest/back connection

Edited July 27, 2025 by shashachu

[Cricket[TK]]

Great work sizing down your armor!!!  It looks so much better on your frame now.  I had to size down the armor and helmet for my Shoretrooper because the lid was soooo big on me at 1:1 scale.  Your proportions look great!

P.S. Please don't tell me that you've put a pause on your M-O build!!!  

[shashachu[TK]]

14 minutes ago, Cricket said:

Great work sizing down your armor!!!  It looks so much better on your frame now.  I had to size down the armor and helmet for my Shoretrooper because the lid was soooo big on me at 1:1 scale.  Your proportions look great!

P.S. Please don't tell me that you've put a pause on your M-O build!!!  

 

Are you even a maker unless you have 8 different projects going at once???? :)

 

I've actually been working a lot on the code for M-O and seeing if I can do a full test of all the electronics. Don't worry!

[shashachu[TK]]

Question regarding the holster. Like Anzo, my kit did not come with the holster rail/mount, and obviously I cannot ask KB for one now. Is it actually necessary if I have the wedge portion of the R2Dan holster?

 

Looking at this photo, for example, I don't see an additional rail: 

also this one:

 

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/image/5711-fotk-r-leg-holster-side-view-2jpg/

Edited July 28, 2025 by shashachu

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

25 minutes ago, shashachu said:

Question regarding the holster. Like Anzo, my kit did not come with the holster rail/mount, and obviously I cannot ask KB for one now. Is it actually necessary if I have the wedge portion of the R2Dan holster?

 

Looking at this photo, for example, I don't see an additional rail: 

also this one:

 

https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/gallery/image/5711-fotk-r-leg-holster-side-view-2jpg/

Here's a front view of that particular display armor, no addition wedge but has the curved mount

 

The R2 Dan holster wedge is only to change the angle of the mounting

This display trooper has both which it was based on

 

The main mount is curved and follows the thigh, I doubt you would be able to get the wedge to do the same.

 

[shashachu[TK]]

1 hour ago, gmrhodes13 said:

The main mount is curved and follows the thigh, I doubt you would be able to get the wedge to do the same.

 

Do you think it'd be really difficult to sand the wedge to that shape?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

1 hour ago, shashachu said:

Do you think it'd be really difficult to sand the wedge to that shape?

Issue is the piece is already a wedge shape so too thin at one end

 

Here are some free 3D holster files which you may be able to modify

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4057796

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1474100

 

 

[shashachu[TK]]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the file links - I must have just not been using the right search terms because I was trying to find files. :)

[zediyeti[TK]]

Awesome, I hope there will be another tiny trooper around soon! The helmet is definitely a pain in the butt to finish, but it’s well worth it. I’ve tried on my friends anovos helmet with my kit for fun and it looks very silly with how well the rest of my armor fits. ah, we can only dream of an easy to acquire and lightweight helmet :’)

[shashachu[TK]]

I went ahead and tinkcercad-ed a simple holster mount. If i were smart I would have put the screw holes in as well, but alas. 

 

 

[TheSwede[TK]]

1 hour ago, shashachu said:

I went ahead and tinkcercad-ed a simple holster mount. If i were smart I would have put the screw holes in as well, but alas. 

 

 

You don’t happen to know anyone with a denuo novo suit that won’t use the included holster? You could then cut the base and use that.   Also,  I wouldn’t use the wedge, makes the holster stick out to much. Or you could always ask Dan for a mount given you have his holster and he now offers a base. 
If all else fails, I have a denuo Novo holster that I’m not using that you can have. 

[shashachu[TK]]

32 minutes ago, TheSwede said:

You don’t happen to know anyone with a denuo novo suit that won’t use the included holster? You could then cut the base and use that.   Also,  I wouldn’t use the wedge, makes the holster stick out to much. Or you could always ask Dan for a mount given you have his holster and he now offers a base. 
If all else fails, I have a denuo Novo holster that I’m not using that you can have. 

 

Yeah I agree that the wedge makes it stick out a ton. I'll play with positioning before deciding.

 

I also think I could use *just* the wedge and it'd look fine. 

 

I appreciate the offer of the mount - I think at worst I'm fine with my printed one so I don't think I will need yours.

[shashachu[TK]]

I actually messaged the creator of the CGTrader files, asking if they could split the holster from the thigh, and they did! So I'll probably check the measurements and use that one instead.